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7
It had been 12 years since he moved from Cleveland to "The Pass", but Jeffrey Madison felt like he had lived in the pleasant surroundings of the Gulf Coast his entire life. Everything was different from life "The North", where everyone always seemed like they were in a hurry.
However, things were moving even slower than normal for Jeff on that spring day in 1990. Jeff could barely remember who had just talked to him a minute earlier. How could he? His wife of 14 years had just passed away after a long battle with breast cancer. She was only 36 years old; and now Jeff, 37, would have to know life as a single parent, not to mention a lonely one.
People Jeff had known his entire life were visibly apprehensive to talk to him. What do you say to someone that has lost his closest companion?
Jeff's wife, Kelsey, was a southern belle that he had met up in Cleveland while she attended Baldwin-Wallace College as a sophomore education major in the spring of 1974. It was a long way from home for her to attend college, but since her uncle was the Dean of Admissions at B-W, she was able to attend for free. Besides, she liked the feeling of being up north where the seasons actually changed more than once a year. "Nobody ever filmed a Christmas movie in Mississippi," she loved to say.
Jeff and Kelsey met a Delta Zeta sorority mixer that spring. Jeff was a junior at B-W, majoring in physical education. In a time when it wasn't unusual for a college athlete to compete in more than one sport, Jeff was the starting quarterback for the football team and a catcher on the baseball team.
Jeff finally convinced Kelsey Lemieux to be his bride on the day after her graduation from college, in 1976. They traveled down to Mississippi and married later that summer in a nice southern wedding, but were back in Cleveland after a short honeymoon in Florida. Jeff already had a job up in the Cleveland area as a gym teacher and coach at North Olmsted High School, his former rival, and Kelsey had just been hired to teach second grade in nearby Strongsville.
When Kelsey discovered that she was pregnant in the summer of 1977, she knew that she wanted to be back home in Mississippi. Jeff, who was moving up the coaching ranks in both football and baseball, needed some convincing, though. They eventually agreed to wait until the following summer to make the move, giving Jeff enough time to find a job down in Mississippi. He wasn't so sure how the folks down there would react to a "Yankee" yelling at their boys during a game.
Jeff, standing just under six feet tall, coached the way he played football: with a chip on his shoulder. The main reason for his demeanor was due to the fact he wasn't recruited to play ball for a bigger school, namely Ohio State. He had grown up worshipping the Buckeyes and Woody Hayes but just didn't have the size to play for the Bucks.
As an All-Ohio quarterback at Olmsted Falls High School, just southwest of Cleveland, Jeff garnered a lot of attention from college scouts. However, all were reluctant to give a scholarship to a kid whose build was a dime a dozen. That's how Jeff ended up at B-W, as a big fish in a small pond. After a stellar collegiate career, Jeff knew that his playing days were over, so he decided to do the next best thing: Coach.
Kelsey's father, James, had a friend who was on the Pass Christian school board, and through him arranged an interview for Jeff that June when they moved down to Mississippi. There was a PE job available, along with assistant coaching opportunities for football and baseball. The district was impressed with his resume, and feeling the need for a fresh face in the sleepy Gulf town, hired Jeffrey Madison for what would be the beginning of a very long tenure coaching the Pirates.
"Hey Champ," said Jeffrey as he poked his head into his son's bedroom, "You mind if I come hang out in here with you for a while? I'm tired of talking to people." Jeff's Midwestern dialect had morphed over the years into what his friends in Mississippi referred to as a "Yankee Drawl".
Cooper, tired from all the tears he had shed over the last few days, had been holed up in his bedroom ever since returning home from the funeral that morning.
Cooper made room on his bed for his father to join him. As Jeff sat down, Cooper, now 12 years old, sensed something from his father he had never encountered before. It was defeat.
Sure, his father had lost almost as many as he won, but he always had a poise about him that gave off the aura of confidence, even when on the losing end of a battle. There was no confidence in his eyes today.
Jeff looked into his son's wet eyes, wanting to tell him that everything would be back to normal shortly and that this was just a bump in the road. He'd made a living out of inspiring teams after a tough loss, then leading them to victory the next week. However, he could tell, looking at this boy who would soon be a man, that he wasn't fooling anybody.
"I'm scared, Daddy," Cooper quivered.
Jeffrey always got a chuckle out the fact that boys down south would call their fathers "Daddy", even as they became adults. However, at this moment, he cherished the moniker.
Jeffrey opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He started to tremble, and tears ran down his face.
Cooper reached over and hugged his father as if he was the parent, holding Jeffrey's head close to his chest. Cooper had never seen his father cry like that before. His father had been a pillar of strength for his mother since the day she found out about her cancer. Even when Kelsey was in her final days, Jeffrey had never let on that things wouldn't work out in the end. Cooper was beginning to realize just how strong his father's resolve had been.
The two of them sat there until late that night, mourning the loss of the only woman either of them had ever loved. They took turns crying, while also telling their favorite stories about a mother and wife who passed well before her time.
Cooper had never felt so close to his father in all his life.
